Eating while camping is great. Stumped for what to prepare? Below, we’re going to provide a full menu for your first night — not only a recipe but game(s) to go with it!
Second, we’ll give you a great and really simple recipe for breakfast the next morning.
Third is a roasted potato recipe that is super-easy and a nice side dish for whatever you’ve got planned for Day 2.
Recipe 1, Day 1
Here’s a great recipe that you can make for dinner your first night of camping. It’s hearty and heats up really well over a campfire. Plus, it has an additional benefit. If your family likes to play word games, you can play one related to the recipe! Two suggestions are below.
1. Savory Cheese Soup
Ah, cheese! Toasted, it’s warm and savory. It’s full of calcium. One of the best and most comforting foods you can fix to make you look genius is Savory Cheese Soup.
It’s great for you, and it also impresses friends and family. All this and it only takes 15 minutes to prepare. (Note that it takes a while to cook, but you can do a lot while it’s on your stove—pay bills, watch Netflix, plan the camping trip, vacuum the carpet, sleep, or exercise.)
You will need the following ingredients to make the soup.
- 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
- 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/3 cup beer or additional chicken broth, depending on your preference
- 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth
- 1/4 cup chopped carrot
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
- 1 tablespoon chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped sweet red pepper
- 2 teaspoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- Croutons, crumbled cooked bacon and sliced green onions, optional
To prepare the soup, you need to:
- In a 1-1/2-qt. slow cooker, combine the first seven ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until vegetables are tender.
- Combine flour and water until smooth; stir into soup.
- Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until thickened.
- Stir in the cream cheese, cheddar cheese and beer. Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes or until cheeses are melted.
- Top with croutons, bacon and green onions if desired.
This makes two servings.
Games That Go With Cheese Soup
Ever had a great dinner while camping, and after it, wanted to play some word games around the campfire. Especially as the sun sets, word games are great, because you don’t have to be able to see, the way you do with other types of games.
The word game is related to the cheese soup recipe.
Buzzfeed has a quite funny feature called “25 Famous Movies that Should Have Been About Cheese.” Its premise was to take titles of movies and make fun by changing them to…being about cheese, in a pun-filled, wordplay sort of way.
The vintage Home Alone became Provolone. Catching Fire became Catching Feta. The even more vintage Audrey Hepburn vehicle Roman Holiday became Romano Holiday. The forgettable Tom Hanks picture That Thing You Do morphed into That Thing You Fondue. Like that.
Now, see how many you can think of. This might have been inspired by the custom of calling movies “cheesy” if they are way less than elegant, but it’s still fun. It’s amazing how many you can think of once you let your creativity fly.
If your family and friends have a good time with this, it’s also possible to make a Round 2. This spotlights another possible ingredient of the soup: beer. Same principle. From Here to Eternity, a vintage World War II flick, becomes From Beer to Eternity.
Alternatively, you could get your trivia on with quizzes on movies actually having something to do with beer. Incredibly, there are quite a few. One, from the 1930s, is called Rhapsody in Brew. Check Wikipedia.
There’s one other game option related to the theme of your soup. Parcheesi! It’s a venerable board game that can create hours of fun for the whole family. Parcheesi can be found at any game or toy store.
Breakfast Recipe
Hopefully, everybody will sleep well the first night under the stars.
When they wake up, here’s a great recipe for pancakes. They’re light and airy and really simple to prepare. You can put the batter in a water bottle and just pour it in a cast iron or other camping pan for great flapjacks.
These are great with confectioner’s sugar sprinkled on top. Cinnamon is another potential topper.
The recipe is so simple that it’s very easy to remember. At home, the same batter can make crepes or a very light waffle that puffs up. To get your daily vegetables, add about 1 tablespoon pumpkin.
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup milk
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- ¼ tsp salt
To Prepare:
- Beat all ingredients together until smooth.
- Pour mixture in heated pan where oil or butter has been melted.
- Cook until batter is set.
Roasted Potatoes
Simplicity itself, and delicious.
Ingredients:
- 5 russet potatoes
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- 2 Clove Garlic, If Desired
To Prepare:
- Cut the potatoes into medium slices.
- Salt to taste.
- If your family likes garlic, mince 2 clove garlic and sprinkle pieces among the potatoes.
- Drizzle olive oil sparingly across the potatoes.
Wrap the mixture in aluminum foil. Cook over a campfire for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour. (Time depends on size of potato slices.) After 45 minutes, check; they may take longer, according to taste.
Camping is a great way to foster family togetherness. These recipes and games can be part of creating memories that last a lifetime.
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